Sunday, October 21, 2012: Isaiah 53

 Sunday, October 21, 2012

PREACHER: Pastor Paul Cannon

Isaiah 53:4-12; Mark 10:35-45

A fair warning to you all:  This sermon is going to be as much of a lecture as it is a sermon.  Now, most of my confirmation students will tell you that my lectures are really, really exciting and they like nothing better in the world to hear me talk and talk and talk (right students?).  But don’t believe them for a second!  I secretly suspect that maybe lectures aren’t their favorite things in the world. 

And there is a good reason why I am going to do a slightly different type of sermon today, and that is because one of the readings is particularly special to the Christian tradition.  And you might be surprised to hear that the reading I’m talking about isn’t our Gospel text – it’s actually the text that we read from Isaiah.  That text is so important – it is so central to the Christian faith – that I’m not sure that Christianity would exist without it. 

But before we jump into Isaiah, I want to read a little bit from our Gospel, because I think that the story in Mark will help set it up for us.

James and John come up to Jesus and they ask him,

“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”… not a great start for the disciples here.  But Jesus let’s them continue.  “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in glory.”

To which Jesus replies “You do not know what you are asking.” He’s saying to the disciples “When you want to be by my side, when you say that you want to serve me, when you say that you want to be glorified like I am going to be glorified…that doesn’t mean what you think it means.”  So Jesus goes on to talk about one of the most common themes in Mark – servant leadership.  He says, “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”

And this is where the text connects with our reading from Isaiah today – because the Isaiah reading is actually a part of a series of texts that are known as “the Servant Songs.”  And as I said earlier, they are among the most important texts, not only in the Old Testament, but in the entire Bible, because as Christians we believe that they foreshadow the life and death of Jesus. 

Just listen to the words and tell me that you don’t see Jesus being described. 

“Surely, he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken.”

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole.”

“Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

“The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

When I said earlier that Christianity might not exist without these texts from Isaiah, now you know why.  Christianity finds its theology in these words – it inherits its central tenants of faith – from these words that were written over 700 years before Jesus was even born.

What’s more, we not only claim that the poetry that we find in these pages reminds us of Jesus… as Christians we claim that this poem is about Jesus.  It looks ahead to his coming.  It announces God’s plan to the world for salvation.  And that salvation comes through God’s servant – God’s Son – Jesus Christ.

Ok.  So far, there has been a lot of lecturing here and since you all have been so well behaved, I think you’ve earned a brief intermission, which has nothing to do with anything, except that it’s a nice break.  So I thought, who wouldn’t want to see some pictures of my Danger – my dog.

This first one is him in his boots and Thunder Jacket.

 This one is him proving to the green monster toy just how dangerous he really is.  And I wanted to show you a clip of Danger wagging his tail, but I couldn’t get the technology to work.

Feel refreshed yet?  Where were we?

The Servant Songs!  That’s right.  Now, there are a couple of different ways that we can think of these verses from Isaiah.  I already mentioned that when most Christians hear the Servant Songs, they hear a prophesy about Jesus.  And I think that for our faith, that is a great way to read it.

But another way that we can look at it, is to think of it as a biblical description of what it means to be a servant.  It tells us what Jesus meant when he said to his disciples “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wises to be first among you must be slave of all.”

What does it mean to be the greatest of all?  In our terms it means that you are the champ.  You’re the smartest, the fastest, the richest, the best dressed person with the biggest house. 

But in God’s terms, to be the greatest means something quite different.  It means you need to be a servant.  The Servant Songs tell us that a servant is one who is willing to put the needs of others above their own needs. My mom has a servant’s heart.  She used to tell us kids to think of others before you think of yourself. A servant to God spends their days with the less fortunate.  A servant is a lamb – an innocent person who takes responsibility for others.  A servant’s life is not an easy life to live. 

Now you see why Jesus tells James and John that they just don’t get it.  They still think that walking with Jesus means that there is going to be glory and riches and nice suits and big houses. That’s what they wanted when they asked “Can we sit at your right and left hand in heaven?” 

Mark emphasizes just how little the disciples understand what it really means to follow Christ, because the next time that this phrase shows up in the Gospel of Mark is at the crucifixion of Jesus.  Mark 15:27, “And then with him, they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.” So Jesus responds, to James and John “You do not know what you are asking.  How could you possibly know what you are asking? The people on my right and left will be those who are crucified next to me.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if that were the last word that I said to you today, then nobody could blame you for getting up and walking out that door.  But it’s not the end of the story anymore than the crucifixion was the end of Jesus.  Amen?  If you listen to words of Isaiah, if you listen to the song of the servant, then you will hear the good news embedded in and through the whole thing. 

“Surely,” Isaiah writes, “He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases.” 

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole.”

“The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

Brothers and sisters, the good news is all over this text. But there is two pieces that I want to lift up.  First, is that the suffering servant – Jesus Christ – has done it all.  He has carried your diseases. He has made you whole. He has made you righteous.  That gift belongs to you.

The second piece of good news is this: when we live our lives as God’s servant’s, when we visit the sick in hospitals, when we build bridges of relationships to Tanzania, when we serve in soup kitchens, when we join the fight against poverty and injustice, when we work to clean up a polluted world… we help bring God’s healing to the world.  And in so doing, our own lives are healed as well.

So thanks be to God for our suffering servant Jesus Christ, and for all you who toil and serve alongside him.
Amen.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

October 7, 2012
Genesis 2:18-24; Mark 10:2-16

PREACHER: Pastor Carrie Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 

One day last December, I dropped my kids off at school and raced down to Chicago in early morning traffic, arriving just as businesses were opening for the day. I parked near Daley Plaza, where the German Christmas market was still shuttered, but the scent of pretzels and glühwein lingered in the air from the day before. I made my way into the Cook County Courthouse, through the security lines and up to the 8th floor, arriving finally at my destination—Family Court. I was there, not for my own family issues, but to accompany a dear friend in the next step of a long and painful divorce. This time around, it was to ask for a permanent restraining order against her ex-husband.

It was still early in the morning, but the courtroom was already filled with people. There were several newly divorced couples working out child support, a mother who had taken the kids out of state against the wishes of the father, a couple so angry they needed a guard to stand between them, and countless others who quietly awaited their turn in front of the judge. And there was my dear friend sitting beside me, whose divorce proceedings and the ensuing custody issues had lasted nearly as long as the marriage itself, and who now needed a court to protect her from the father of her children—a man she once stood beside in a church to be joined in marriage, for better or for worse.

This is why, when I read the appointed Gospel passage for today from the 10th chapter of Mark, I can no longer approach it from a distance. Now, when I read “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate,” I am transported back to that courtroom, surrounded by all those broken promises, shattered dreams, and families in pain. When Jesus says, “So they are no longer two, but one flesh,” I can no longer evaluate these words from afar, but instead find myself recalling the sights and sounds of that day, waiting on a courtroom bench with all those broken hearts.

Sitting on these church pews this morning, whether you know it or not, you are also surrounded by broken hearts. Most of you have been touched by divorce in one way or another. When you hear the words “divorce”, “adultery” and “the two shall become one flesh” spoken from the pulpit, I know you are not just hearing a Scripture passage. You, too, are somewhere else, or with someone else, feeling the painful reality of these words in your own life.

If you have ever wondered whether the Bible is relevant to life in the 21st Century, here’s your proof that it is. Here is Jesus tackling an issue that is as central to our lives today as it was in 1st century Palestine—and just as difficult to talk about. Marriage, divorce, and family may look different today than they did in Jesus’ time, but one thing remains the same: Human relationships are broken. From the beginning of creation, God made two people, for God said it is not good for us to be alone. For this reason, we were created to be in relationship with one another. And from the beginning of creation, we have been messing it up.

“No, it’s ok Adam, go ahead and eat the apple!”
“But she told me to eat the apple, Lord!”
“How should I know where my brother is? Am I to be my brother’s keeper?”
“I’m tired of waiting for God to give us children. Abraham, why don’t you go make a baby with our servant-girl, Hagar.”
“Let’s sell our brother Joseph into slavery, so we don’t have to look at that crazy technicolor dreamcoat of his anymore!”

As long as there have been two people in the world, we have been hurting each other.

And so we would like to control things from here on out.

We would like to know the rules up front. We want to set boundaries, define marriage, and make laws. We would like to order our lives and our relationships to ensure maximum freedom and minimum pain. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” In the same way, we want to know the loopholes, the exceptions, and how to get out of the contract.

How many pre-marital sessions do we have to do, Pastor? Is there a buy-out clause? When can we get out of our cell phone contract? Are we due for an upgrade? Is there a penalty for prepayment of our mortgage? What if I want to change my pledge after I fill out my pledge card? Exactly how binding is our commitment?

We, like the Pharisees, would prefer to know the rules of our relationships. We want to know the guidelines so we can control the situation—and perhaps avoid pain.

But Jesus says: It’s not that easy. A relationship—whether it’s a marriage, a friendship, a partnership, co-parenting, or living together as a community—is never something put in a box. You, Adam, were formed out of the dust. You, Eve, were fashioned from a rib. And neither one of you is God. Stop pretending that you are.

We want to know what we’re supposed to do, and Jesus reminds us of who we are. We ask legal questions, and Jesus refers us back to creation.

Let’s be clear--I am in no way making a pitch for so-called “biblical definitions of marriage”, because I doubt any of us would be too excited about reinstating polygamy, arranged marriage, or the practice of considering wives as property to be owned.

But neither do I think Jesus gives Christians a free pass, allowing us to freely enter and leave relationships at our convenience.

Instead, I think Jesus both deepens our commitment to and widens our understanding of relationships by calling us back to the beginning, when God made two people, not one, and then bound us together in love.

Looking back at Mark, chapter 10, we see that the Pharisees wanted an easy out. They wanted to know that their understanding of marriage as something controlled by the law (and managed by men in charge) would remain the same under Jesus’ jurisdiction. But Jesus refuses to engage in a legal argument. Instead, Jesus reminds them that relationships do not begin or end on paper. “Because of your hardness of heart you have these laws,” he said. “But the two become one flesh. There are no easy outs.” As anyone who has been affected by divorce can tell you, the pain and the consequences continue long past the final court proceedings.

Later, when the disciples questioned him again, Jesus made it plain: Divorce is never the simple answer. Just because you followed the law does not mean you have avoided sin. Getting the final decree doesn’t mean you’ve exited without causing pain—for yourself, for your family, or for your children. “Whoever divorces his or her spouse” says Jesus, “even if he or she is following the law, is a sinner in need of grace.”

But then, like a skilled politician in a national debate, Jesus pivots, changing the conversation away from the law and toward love.

Just after this conversation about marriage and divorce, people are bringing little children to Jesus, and the disciples start shooing them away. And Jesus is unimpressed. The Scriptures even say he was indignant. He says to the disciples:

“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

I don’t think it’s an accident that these two seemingly unrelated scenes about divorce and children are linked together in the book of Mark.

In the midst of this conversation about our brokenness and our pain, about the reality that marriages fail and relationships end, Jesus makes it plain that it’s not our job to manage everything. We will strive to get it right, we will seek to honor our commitments, but our laws, our efforts, and our good intentions will never create that perfect utopia, where all relationships are clearly defined, where marriages are always happy, where children are seen and not heard, and where no one is ever hurt.
Instead, taking up a child in his arms, Jesus shows us: The kingdom of God is something we receive, as a little child receives an embrace. It is a gift. It is grace. It is forgiveness—which we have because of God’s love for us.

Sisters and brothers, Jesus binds us together with God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s grace, for it is not good for us to be alone. He shows us, on the cross, how to love deeply and sacrificially. He encourages us to be “all in” when it comes to marriage, or friendship, or community. And above all, what we learn from this difficult Gospel text is that while marriages fail and divorce happens, there are no easy outs.

But there is forgiveness. There is love. And there is grace, which we receive as little children in the arms of Jesus. Thanks be to God.

Let us pray:
Loving and forgiving God,
If we understand that the Gospel is your Good News for our Bad Situation, then perhaps in this case, relationships are both the good news and the bad news. Deepen our love for one another and strengthen our commitments to marriage, to friendship, and to community. And let us receive your kingdom as a little child, with hearts open to your love and forgiveness, which we have because of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.